In the building industry it may be desirable to finish inside walls of a building such as, for example, a house or mobile home, with wainscoating, paneling or similar building product made in accordance with U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/912,876, filed Jul. 13, 1992, incorporated herein by reference. Such wall panels may have molded portions or sections that are raised from the wall to give the appearance of a raised panel section.
After the wall panel has been applied, it is generally necessary to cut the wall panel in order to gain access to an electrical outlet. If the wall panel lies substantially flat against the wall, a cover plate is typically attached to the electrical socket by screws giving a finished appearance. However, if the electrical outlet appears behind one of the raised sections of the wall panel, there is a gap or space between the raised portion and the wall giving a rough and unfinished appearance.
It has been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,635,168; 4,726,152 and 4,920,708 to provide mounting assemblies to accommodate light fixtures and the like and to give a finished appearance to the outside siding of a house. However, such mounting assemblies are not adapted to give a finished appearance to an electrical outlet or an inside wall panel having raised portions or sections.
The present invention provides a finishing plate which gives a finished appearance to a wall panel that has been cut to gain access to an electrical outlet; which is attractive; which is easy to manufacture; which is economical and which is easy to install.
The device of the present invention is adapted for use with the inside wall panel of a house or mobile home.